(10-19-2014, 02:53 PM)Ryoko Wrote: Being that most of Eorzea is illiterate, I'd imagine libraries are limited almost exclusively to organizations of academic types.
(10-19-2014, 04:35 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: The lack of literacy is discussed in this dev post as something of an afterthought at the end of the post.
That's really interesting. Looking at the prosperity of the three city-states, you'd assume the literacy rates would be high, at least within the cities proper. Low literacy rates would imply that there is no compulsory education system; any kind of tutoring then would depend on wealth and social status. Books themselves would be expensive because of this as well--if you look at the cost of books in England during the Middle Ages, where education was primarily for nobility, it would take nearly a decade for an average craftsman to earn enough wages to purchase a book.
It's interesting to think of from a character point of view; coming from a literate society in real life, where there is a formal education system, most people probably automatically assume that their characters can read, unless they want it to be a notable part of their background that they can't. But that bit of lore says that most people in Eorzea can't read, and so people whose professions or social standing didn't demand learning letters probably don't know how.
